Department for Transport

Taxis: Licensing

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of defining (a) pre-booked and (b) plying for hire in law in response to recommendation made by the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Licensing.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Providing a statutory definition of plying for pre-booking and plying for hire was considered as part of the Government response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group. The response issued on 12 February explained that since the Law Commission concluded in 2014 that a statutory definition of plying for hire would not be a practical improvement on the current position and there being no change in the legal situation, the Government would not take forward that recommendation.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the merits of Highways England's decision to reduce the number of road upgrades in the 2015-2020 Road Investment Strategy by 10 per cent.

Jesse Norman: In delivering the road investment strategy, Highways England routinely reviews its delivery plans to ensure that proposed road schemes will deliver value for money and minimise disruption for motorists. Highways England publishes its annual Delivery Plan each year to provide details of its planned work programme for the next 12 months and beyond. The next regular update of this is scheduled to be published this summer.

Official Cars: Electric Vehicles

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on increasing the number of plug-in cars and vans in each government department’s fleet since 2014; how many plug-in cars and vans were in each fleet as of April 2019; and what proportion that is of the total number of vehicles owned and rented by each government department.

Jesse Norman: This information is not currently held centrally. However, the Government has committed to electrify 25% of central government cars by 2022, and 100% by 2030. As part of delivering this commitment, from 2019/20 statistics on the share of electric vehicles in each Department’s fleet will be included in the Greening Government Commitments annual report.

Offical Cars: Exhaust Emissions

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative estimate he has made of the number of vehicles (a) used, (b) owned and (c) rented by each Government department and their agencies in London that comply with the Ultra Low Emission Zone standards and the total number of vehicles (i) used, (ii) owned and (iii) rented by each Government department.

Jesse Norman: The information for each Government Department is not held centrally.The information for the Government Car Service (GCS), a division of the Department for Transport which operates in London, is below.Fleet No.OwnedLeasedULEZ CompliantULEZ Non-Compliant 868516818

Offical Cars: Exhaust Emissions

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) penalty charge notices that have been issued for non-compliant vehicles used by each government department and their agencies in London since the ULEZ came into force on 8 April 2019.

Jesse Norman: In London, transport is devolved to the Mayor and delivered by Transport for London (TfL) – this includes the ULEZ.Since it was introduced on April 8th, the Department does not yet expect TfL to hold any complete data sets on penalty charge notices.

Taxis: Licensing

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 240585 on taxis: licensing, how his Department is planning to restrict cross-border hiring by private hire drivers; and what the timescale is for bringing forward legislative proposals.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Government is considering how any restriction of out-of-area journeys by taxis and private hire vehicles proposed by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group might work in practice, with a view to legislating.

Taxis: Licensing

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide statutory definitions of pre-booked and plying for hire, in order to maintain the two-tier taxi and private hire regulation system, as recommended by the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Licensing.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Providing a statutory definition of plying for pre-booking and plying for hire was considered as part of the Government response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group. The response issued on 12 February explained that since the Law Commission concluded in 2014 that a statutory definition of plying for hire would not be a practical improvement on the current position and there being no change in the legal situation, the Government would not take forward that recommendation.

High Speed Two

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, why the board minutes of HS2 Ltd have not been made available since December 2018; and if he will publish those minutes immediately.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The minutes have been published and can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/high-speed-two-limited/about/our-governance#board-meeting-minutes

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 249174, how many non disclosure agreements have been signed with HS2 Ltd.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Pursuant to Question 249174, the Department for Transport does not hold non-disclosure agreements with any individuals working on High Speed 2. However, Confidentiality Agreements are used to protect both HS2 Ltd’s information and the information of the other signatory party and are in accordance with typical business practice. Confidentiality Agreements help to avoid placing homes and businesses in unnecessary blight and protect commercially sensitive information and the personal information of those potentially affected by any proposed changes. According to HS2 Ltd’s Confidentiality Register, there are 320 Confidentiality Agreements.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Business: Stevenage

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to increase support for businesses in Stevenage.

Kelly Tolhurst: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are playing a vital role in driving forward economic growth across the country, helping to build a country that works for everyone. That’s why by 2021 Government will have invested over £12bn through the Local Growth Fund, allowing LEPs to use their local knowledge to get all areas of the country firing on all cylinders. The Government will have invested £160m Growth Deal funding in Hertfordshire by 2021, and the LEP was allocated £16.2m Growing Places Funding. The LEP has prioritised spending on science, research and innovation, developing skills, cultivating world-leading sectors and supporting businesses to start up and grow. In Stevenage, this has included allocating £1.2m to the Airbus Foundation Discovery Space. Since 2012, the Start-Up Loans Programme has delivered 71 loans in Stevenage, worth £487, 289 to small businesses.

Energy: Costs

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to Scope’s report Disability Price Tag 2019, what assessment he has made of the effect of the higher energy costs faced by families with disabled children on those families.

Kelly Tolhurst: It is particularly important that those households with higher than average energy consumption are on a good value tariff and that their homes are energy efficient. Our work to increase switching and improve the switching process, alongside the price caps on default tariffs and prepayment meters, is helping to ensure that all households pay a fair price for their energy. Households in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment are eligible for energy efficiency measures under the Energy Company Obligation.

Caravan Sites

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban owners of caravan holiday home parks vetting potential purchasers of those caravans; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



The Government has made no such assessment.

Employment: Parents

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of support available to parents who have to return to work while their premature and sick babies remain in neonatal or intensive care.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy recently conducted a short, focussed internal review of the provisions for parents of premature, sick and multiple babies for the purpose of providing advice to Minsters. We are currently exploring a range of policy options for providing further support to parents in this position, recognising that the UK entitlement to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave among the most generous maternity rights in the world.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and which Local Enterprise Partnerships have undertaken a rural proofing review for policies adopted during 2018-19.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department does not collect information relating to rural proofing reviews.In Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships, Government set out its expectation that all LEPs should seek to be representative of their local economies and ensure that through their development of economic strategy for their areas, LEPs prioritise action needed to boost productivity, earning power and competitiveness across their local economies, rural as well as urban.In line with the Industrial Strategy, we have set Local Enterprise Partnerships a single mission to deliver Local Industrial Strategies to promote productivity. This should include a focus on the foundations of productivity and identify priorities across Ideas, People, Infrastructure, Business Environment and Places.For many LEP areas this will involve identifying weaknesses in productivity across their local areas, such as in isolated rural or urban communities, promoting inclusive growth by using existing national and local funding.

Foreign Companies: Assets

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to require companies to disclose the proportion of their assets under management originating from countries with a poor record of human rights.

Kelly Tolhurst: Companies registered in the UK are required to report the value of their global assets within their annual accounts but there are no plans to introduce requirements to report on their assets in relation to human rights. Government has introduced other requirements on companies in relation to human rights Quoted companies are required to report on human rights issues, as they relate to the company, within the narrative part of their annual report. Companies must include a description of their business model and of their policies, in relation to human rights, and the effectiveness of those policies. The information provided must be to the extent necessary for an understanding of the development, performance or position of the company’s business and the impact of its activities. These requirements are enhanced by voluntary guidance and standards, including the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Brunei: LGBT People

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2019 to Question 245924 on Brunei: LGBT People, what meetings he has had with his counterpart in Brunei on the implementation of anti-LGBT laws in that country; and what the outcomes of those meetings has been.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary spoke to Brunei’s Foreign Minister, Dato Erywan, on 4 April to express the UK’s concerns about the impact of the Sharia Penal Code. On 11 April, the Foreign Secretary and I met Dato Erywan and the Finance Minister, Dato Amin Liew, in London. The Prime Minister wrote to His Majesty The Sultan on 1 May encouraging the Sultan of Brunei to respond to international concerns.​We welcome the assurances thereafter provided by His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei on 5 May; in particular, confirmation that the de facto moratorium on the death penalty will apply to punishments under the Sharia Penal Code and that His Majesty the Sultan will commit to ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Following this announcement, I again met Dato Erywan and Dato Amin Liew on 7 May in London followed by a letter from the Foreign Secretary on 9 May.The announcement by His Majesty demonstrates the importance of engaging in respectful dialogue and diplomacy to address sensitive issues. The assurances provided by His Majesty the Sultan are positive and go some way to addressing our anxieties about the human rights situation in Brunei. However, we urge Brunei to build on these assurances and formalise its commitment to respect individual freedoms and minorities.

St Helena: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the (a) permitted geographic catch locations and (b) permitted species and catch volumes under licenses sold by the Saint Helena Government to the Argos Fishing Company in (i) 2016, (ii) 2017 and (iii) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 13 May 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The sale of commercial fishing licenses, and conditions within the licenses such as location and target species, are is the responsibility of the St Helena Government.

Sir Alan Duncan: The sale of commercial fishing licenses, and conditions within the licenses such as location and target species, are is the responsibility of the St Helena Government.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has received confirmation that Saudi Arabia will investigate the bomb attack that damaged a Save the Children-supported hospital in Kitaf, Yemen on 26 March 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are deeply concerned of reports of an alleged airstrike on a petrol station at a hospital facility on 26 March 2019. UK officials have been in contact with Save the Children, who fund the hospital, about this alleged incident and have raised this matter with the Saudi-led Coalition, who have announced an investigation.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will take steps to establish an independent investigation into the bombing of a de-conflicted hospital in Kitaf, Yemen on 26 March 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are deeply concerned of reports of an alleged airstrike on a petrol station at a hospital facility on 26 March 2019. UK officials have been in contact with Save the Children, who fund the hospital, about this alleged incident and have raised this matter with the Saudi-led Coalition, who have announced an investigation.

British Nationals Abroad: Homophobia and Racial Discrimination

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has issued to UK citizens on the prevalence of (a) racism and (b) homophobia when travelling abroad.

Harriett Baldwin: ​We advise British people travelling abroad on LGBT+ issues in the Local laws and customs section of the travel advice. This includes a dedicated guidance page on travel advice for LGBT+. For countries where we have evidence to suggest racial discrimination may occur, we include information in the Safety and security section of the travel advice.

Mali: Peace Negotiations

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote peace in Mali.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government continues to be concerned about the situation in Mali. We reiterate our previous calls on the parties to the 2015 Algiers Peace Agreement to take immediate steps to advance the peace process. We are also deeply concerned by the increase in terrorist and intercommunal attacks in the centre of Mali. We underline the need for security efforts to be accompanied by inclusive political and institutional reform, as well as initiatives to promote economic development.

Yemen: Politics and Government

Kevin Brennan: What recent discussions he has had with international agencies on the security situation in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The security situation in Yemen is of great concern. Working with partners and agencies, we are monitoring developments and doing all we can to end the conflict. The UK has played a leading role in diplomatic efforts and will continue to do so. My Right Honourable Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Yemen in March. He also hosted a ministerial Quad meeting last month to discuss implementation of the Hodeidah agreement and next steps in the political process. I welcome reports over the weekend that the Houthis have begun their withdrawal from Hodeidah. I look forward to receiving independent verification from the UN and hearing the assessment of the UN Special Envoy during his briefing to the Security Council.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Helen Whately: What diplomatic steps he is taking to support a peace process in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The security situation in Yemen is of great concern. Working with partners and agencies, we are monitoring developments and doing all we can to end the conflict. The UK has played a leading role in diplomatic efforts and will continue to do so. My Right Honourable Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Yemen in March. He also hosted a ministerial Quad meeting last month to discuss implementation of the Hodeidah agreement and next steps in the political process. I welcome reports over the weekend that the Houthis have begun their withdrawal from Hodeidah.I look forward to receiving independent verification from the UN and hearing the assessment of the UN Special Envoy during his briefing to the Security Council.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in his Department in each of the last five years.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Department for Exiting the European Union is committed to being an inclusive workplace where people can bring their whole selves to work. We care about the wellbeing of our staff and have committed to taking a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment.We fully investigate all claims of bullying and harassment and take action in line with Departmental policies as appropriate. We have also introduced fair treatment ambassadors to provide another avenue for staff to receive support and signposting, as well as initiatives to help individuals, especially managers, recognise and resolve instances of bullying and harassment.As the Department was created within the last 5 years, we only have records from 2017:2015: 02016: 02017:2018:2019: 0

Department of Health and Social Care

Tomography

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing PET-CT scanning services through a (a) private contractor and (b) a NHS trust.

Steve Brine: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 14 March 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The estimated total cost to National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing PET-CT scans is approximately £90 millionis £29.4 million, with an average unit cost of approximately £900 £570 per examination (this includes the cost of both the scan and a standard tracer). Costs are not collected nationally by private contractors.

Steve Brine: The estimated total cost to National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing PET-CT scans is approximately £90 millionis £29.4 million, with an average unit cost of approximately £900 £570 per examination (this includes the cost of both the scan and a standard tracer). Costs are not collected nationally by private contractors.

Infant Foods

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) dates, (b) attendees and (c) topics of meetings his Department has had with representatives of the formula milk industry in 2018 and 2019 to date.

Seema Kennedy: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 07 May 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The Department has provided details of meetings between Departmental officials with representatives of the formula milk industry. Meetings organised by executive agencies or the Food Standards Agency have not been included. We have not disclosed details of staff attending as they were not Senior Civil Service grade. The information is shown in the following table.DateOrganisationDiscussion26 February 2018NestlePresentation on action on sustainable diets26 March 2018NestlePhone call25 April 2018Danone and NutricaEarly Years Nutrition Partnership6 June 2018British Specialist Nutrition Association (BSNA), Nestle, NutricaNotifications for Foods for Special Medical Purposes22 June 2018NestlePlanning for visit4 July 2018NestleVisit11 July 2018DanoneAptamil30 July 2018DanoneChildhood Obesity Chapter 214 August 2018NestleChildhood Obesity Chapter 222 August 2018BSNAPhone meeting10 September 2018Danone and NestleAdvertising roundtable14 November 2018BSNANutrition legislation meeting15 November 20189DanoneReformulation, Brexit pressure, and Chapter22 November 20189BSNAForthcoming CODEX CCNFSDU40

Seema Kennedy: The Department has provided details of meetings between Departmental officials with representatives of the formula milk industry. Meetings organised by executive agencies or the Food Standards Agency have not been included. We have not disclosed details of staff attending as they were not Senior Civil Service grade. The information is shown in the following table.DateOrganisationDiscussion26 February 2018NestlePresentation on action on sustainable diets26 March 2018NestlePhone call25 April 2018Danone and NutricaEarly Years Nutrition Partnership6 June 2018British Specialist Nutrition Association (BSNA), Nestle, NutricaNotifications for Foods for Special Medical Purposes22 June 2018NestlePlanning for visit4 July 2018NestleVisit11 July 2018DanoneAptamil30 July 2018DanoneChildhood Obesity Chapter 214 August 2018NestleChildhood Obesity Chapter 222 August 2018BSNAPhone meeting10 September 2018Danone and NestleAdvertising roundtable14 November 2018BSNANutrition legislation meeting15 November 20189DanoneReformulation, Brexit pressure, and Chapter22 November 20189BSNAForthcoming CODEX CCNFSDU40

NHS Walk-in Centres

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for Clinical Commissioning Groups to phase out the provision of walk-in centres.

Stephen Hammond: NHS England is committed to providing the most appropriate out-of-hospital urgent care, which is simple for patients to navigate. In response to the review of urgent treatment services in the National Health Service (published in 2015), patients and the public said that they felt confused by the mix of walk-in centres, minor injuries units and urgent care centres, in addition to numerous general practitioner health centres and surgeries offering varied levels of core and extended service. The ‘Next Steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’ set out plans for the roll-out of urgent treatment centres. Following the publication of ‘Urgent Treatment Centres – Principles and Standards’ in July 2017, systems have been developing their plans for local service provision. The NHS Long Term Plan has reiterated the intent to fully implement the Urgent Treatment Centre model by autumn 2020, so that all localities have a consistent offer for out-of-hospital urgent care.

NHS: Staff

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the interim recommendations of Baroness Dido Harding's Workforce Implementation Plan will be published.

Stephen Hammond: Following the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan in January this year, the National Health Service has been working with a broad range of experts to lead the development of a new People Plan. The aim of the plan is to provide clarity and detail to the 10-year workforce vision set out in the Long Term Plan, including making sure the NHS has the staff it needs.The plan’s initial recommendations will be presented to the Department this spring, with the final People Plan currently scheduled for publication following the Spending Review.

NHS Injury Benefits Scheme

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications for permanent injury benefit under the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme have been made in each year since 2002; and what proportion of those applications have been successful.

Stephen Hammond: The NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for the administration of the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme on behalf of the Secretary of State. The following table shows the number of applications for permanent injury benefit under the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme received by the NHS Business Services Authority in each scheme year since 2002.YearNumber of Cases Received200267820037102004765200558420064652007349200852420095202010381201131220123012013208201421220151762016106201777201894201918 Information is not held in the format requested on the number of successful applications, and it would incur disproportionate cost to the NHS Business Services Authority to interrogate individual member records to produce this data.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2019 to Question 245660 on Prescriptions: Fees and Charges, what the annual cost is to the NHS Business Services Authority's Loss Recovery Service of (a) checking prescription form exemption declarations, (b) issuing Penalty Charge Notices and (c) managing associated customer contact.

Seema Kennedy: In 2018-19 the cost to the NHS Business Services Authority for the running of the Prescription Exemption Checking Service which includes, checking prescription form exemption declarations, issuing Penalty Charge Notices and managing associated customer contact was £8.41 million.

NHS Injury Benefits Scheme

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the permanent injury benefit system under the NHS injury benefits scheme.

Stephen Hammond: The Department has made no recent assessment of reviewing the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme. A partnership review of the Scheme was conducted by NHS Employers and Trade Unions of the NHS Injury Benefit provisions in 2013, and new arrangements came into force from 1 April 2013.

NHS Injury Benefits Scheme

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the NHS Business Services Authority in processing applications for permanent injury benefit under the NHS injury benefits scheme.

Stephen Hammond: The NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for the administration of the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme on behalf of the Secretary of State. The Injury Benefits Scheme covers NHS workers with injuries or diseases contracted through their employment before 31 March 2013.The NHS Business Services Authority will process Injury Benefits applications received up to and including 30 March 2018 but only in respect of injuries or diseases occurring on or before 30 March 2013. An exception to this rule is that the NHS Business Services Authority will process Injury Benefit applications received by 30 March 2038 for applicants who can provide evidence that there has been a delayed onset of their symptoms, such that application was not possible before 30 March 2018.The NHS Business Services Authority has always had a dedicated team to process Injury Benefit applications, and the Department is content with the efficacy of their administration.

Speech Therapy: Children

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Public Health England has plans to issue guidance to (a) parents and (b) carers on (i) identifying need for and (ii) access to speech, language and communication services for children .

Caroline Dinenage: Public Health England (PHE) is working in partnership with the Department for Education to produce evidence-based resources and tools to support health visitors, early years practitioners and parents/carers in identifying and supporting children’s early speech, language and communication (SLC) needs through training guidance and an enhanced early language assessment tool. The assessment tool will incorporate parent resources to support family understanding of SLC in their children and will be rolled out from April 2020. Alongside this work, PHE is developing a model SLC pathway for children under five. This will ensure that professionals working with families are able to help them support their child’s SLC and how to access support if needed. The pathway will be published by September 2019.

Mental Health Services: Speech and Language Disorders

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to adult NHS mental health services for people with speech, language and communication needs.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is working hard to improve mental health services for all adults, including those with speech, language and communication needs, so that many more people can access the high-quality, vital mental health support they need. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) commission local services, including mental health services, on behalf of their local populations taking into account local needs and priorities. CCGs and NHS England have a duty to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to health services and the outcomes achieved.Under the NHS Long Term Plan, local areas will design and implement models of care that are age appropriate, closer to home and bring together physical and mental health services. These models will support health development by providing holistic care across local authority and NHS services, including primary care, community services, speech and language therapy, school nursing, oral health, acute and specialised services.The National Implementation Framework, to be published later this spring, will provide further information on how the NHS Long Term Plan will drive improvements in people’s mental health care.

Speech Therapy: Children and Young People

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS Clinical Commissioners on the importance of joint commissioning services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department has had no discussions with the organisation NHS Clinical Commissioners on joint commissioning of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.

Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, published in December 2018, what progress his Department, when his Department plans to respond to the recommendations contained in that review.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We are considering the report and its recommendations in detail and will respond in due course. We remain committed to reforming mental health law and will develop and bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows. We have already accepted two important recommendations: the establishment of new statutory advance choice documents, so that people’s wishes and preferences carry far more legal weight, and the creation of a new role of ‘nominated person’, to be chosen by the patient, to replace the current nearest relative provisions.

Police Custody: Death

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Ministerial Council on Deaths in Custody last met; and whether it has has plans to consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act relating to deaths in custody.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Ministerial Board last met on 27 February 2019, and the Independent Advisory Panel last met on 2 May 2019. The recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act relating to deaths in custody are included on the Board’s work programme, and the Government welcomes views from the Council on them. The Government will publish its response to the Independent Review in due course.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase public consultation on the creation of interim guidance for medicinal cannabis and (b) ensure patient and health professional organisations are engaged in the Department’s working group on medicinal cannabis.

Seema Kennedy: The Department does not have a standing working group on medicinal cannabis. It has, however, held a number of engagement events with representatives of patients and health professionals in relation to this policy.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been commissioned to update and replace interim clinical guidelines on the prescribing of cannabis-based products for medicinal use by October 2019. NICE has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders on the draft scope of the guidelines, including a stakeholder workshop held on 6 November 2018, which was attended by patient and health professional organisations. NICE is expected to issue a public consultation on draft guidelines, which will commence in summer 2019. Anyone interested in this topic, who wants to be involved in the consultation process, can register as a stakeholder at www.nice.org.uk by searching “GID-NG10124”.

General Practitioners

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of GPs per 100,000 people in England since 2010.

Seema Kennedy: The number of general practitioners (GPs) and clinical staff per 100,000 registered patients is available in the table attached for the years 2015-18 (headcount and full-time-equivalent (FTE)). Data is not included prior to 2015. GP locums are excluded as improvements have been made to GP locum recording methodology and figures are not comparable prior to December 2017. The recently published NHS Long Term Plan made a clear commitment to the future of general practice, with primary and community care set to receive at least £4.5 billion more in real terms a year by 2023/24, meaning spending on these services will grow faster than the rising NHS budget. Since the launch of the Long Term Plan, NHS England and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee have agreed a five-year GP (General Medical Services) contract framework from 2019/20. The new contract framework will be essential to deliver the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan through strong general practice services.



Regular GP Table
(Word Document, 21.31 KB)

Palliative Care

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, what funding his Department plans to allocate to end of life care.

Caroline Dinenage: As with the vast majority of NHS services, the funding and commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual National Health Service commissioners have responsibility. Local commissioners are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly. The NHS Long Term Plan, sets out significant investment and activity to improve the quality of patient care and health outcomes, including for end of life care. This includes £4.5 billion of new investment to fund expanded community multidisciplinary teams aligned with new primary care networks. Based on individual needs and choices, people identified as having the greatest risks and needs will be offered targeted support for both their physical and mental health needs, helping them to maintain independence and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. This includes patients approaching the end of life.

NHS Trusts: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts undertook a rural proofing review of policies adopted for 2018-2019.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is not centrally held.

Abortion

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has carried out studies on the effect on men of a partner electing to have and having an abortion, particularly in relation to men's mental health.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has not commissioned research on the effect on men of a partner electing to have and having an abortion.

Health Education: Schools

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to check the scientific veracity of the new Abortion and Abortion Care Fact Sheet for schools.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is aware that an Abortion and Abortion Care Fact Sheet has been produced for schools to inform factually accurate, evidence-based education about abortion. The factsheet is based on the latest research and is published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the national medical authority on abortion. It is for individual schools to determine whether they use the factsheet.

NHS: Medical Equipment

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May to Question 246433, which products purchased in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a deal his Department had to dispose of as a result of expiry dates being before 29 March 2019.

Stephen Hammond: There are no products purchased by the Department in preparation for leaving the European Union without a deal that have had to be disposed of as a result of expiry dates before 29 March 2019.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Abortion

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what surveys his Department has commissioned in (a) the UK and (b) countries in receipt of Official Development Assistance on his Department's policy of providing support to abortion services overseas.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID’s long-standing policy on safe abortion takes an evidence-based public health approach that aims to reduce death and disability caused by unsafe abortion. The evidence base for this, from World Health Organisation and other sources, is cited in our published position.

Department for Education

Graduates: Employment

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to data in the Office for National Statistics's quarterly Economic Review published on 2 May 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that 31 per cent of graduates had more education than was required for the job they were doing in 2017; and what steps the Government is taking to make more effective use of graduates' skills and education.

Chris Skidmore: Employment outcomes for graduates are strong. The recently published Graduate Labour Market Statistics 2018 shows that the employment rate of working-age graduates was 87.7% in 2018, which is 0.3% higher than 2017. This employment rate is 16.1% higher than the rate for non-graduates (71.6%). 65.4% of working-age graduates were employed in highly skilled roles, compared with 22.9% of non-graduates. The government’s Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the UK by investing in skills, industries and infrastructure. Through this plan, £120 million was provided to fund collaboration between businesses and universities to stimulate local innovation through the Strength in Places Fund. The primary aim of the Office for Students’ (OfS), the higher education regulator, is to ensure that higher education delivers positive outcomes for students and that it has a regulatory focus to ensure that students are able to progress into employment or further study. The OfS supports graduate employment outcomes in a number of ways. This includes a Challenge Competition, which aims to boost local employment outcomes, and the Institute of Coding, which aims to boost UK digital skills and graduate outcomes. The government has been improving the information available to students to help them make informed choices when making decisions on higher education providers and subject choice. For example, Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Frameworks, Longitudinal Education Outcomes data and the Higher Education Open Data Competition all provide information to prospective students.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings of the National Education Union, published on 15 April 2019, that SEND provision in England has had a £1.2bn shortfall in funding increases from Government since 2015.

Nadhim Zahawi: High needs funding has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to £6.3 billion this year. However, we recognise that local authorities and schools are continuing to face cost pressures. Funding levels for future years will be determined by the next Spending Review.

Pre-school Education: Disadvantaged

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department collects to monitor the effectiveness of money allocated from the public purse to early years early intervention strategies in (a) Liverpool and (b) Merseyside.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Public Health Outcomes Framework is a comprehensive source of data at local authority unitary, county and district level on the extent to which local strategies are successful and effective in improving outcomes for children in the early years. It is available at the following link: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework. The framework includes data on outcomes for children aged 5 from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). Further information on the EYFSP is broken down by local authority and available to view at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2017-to-2018. We do not publish this data at constituency or combined authority level.

Erasmus+ Programme

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with representatives of the devolved governments on the future of the Erasmus+ scheme.

Chris Skidmore: The UK as a whole participates in the Erasmus+ Programme and the department is the national authority for the programme in the UK. The department oversees the work of the UK National Agency, which is responsible for the management and delivery of the programme across the UK, including in the devolved administrations. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and I regularly discuss matters relating to education and exiting the EU with the devolved administrations. For example, last month I met with my counterparts from the devolved administrations to discuss higher education in relation to our exit from the EU, which included a discussion on Erasmus+. Department officials also hold regular meetings on the topic of Erasmus+ with officials from the devolved administrations to ensure close cooperation on this matter. The department will continue to closely engage with the devolved administrations going forward and ensure that their views are taken into account with regards to the future of the Erasmus+ Programme.

Schools: Barnsley

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement entitled, Schools backed to tackle bad behaviour, published on 4 May 2019, how much funding his Department plans to allocated to schools in Barnsley.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement entitled, Schools backed to tackle bad behaviour, published on 4 May 2019, how many schools in Barnsley will be allocated funding.

Nick Gibb: The £10 million investment announced on 4 May 2019, will enable schools to share best practice on behaviour and classroom management. Behaviour support networks will be made up of schools that have exemplary behaviour management practices and effective whole-school cultures. They will work with other schools offering advice on ways to better manage behaviour using measures that have been effective in successful schools. Decisions on where these networks will be set up will be via an open application process to recruit suitable lead schools who can demonstrate their behaviour expertise and capacity to work with a small group of other schools to improve. The Department will provide more detail on the application process in the autumn term to enable the first behaviour support networks to be in place for September 2020.

Breakfast Clubs

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Chapter 1 of the Childhood Obesity Plan, what progress he has made on implementing the Government's commitment to fund healthy breakfast clubs in schools.

Nadhim Zahawi: A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible schools receive a one off £500 grant payment which they are free to use as they deem appropriate, such as purchasing a toaster, to help set up their breakfast club. Schools also receive a dedicated programme of support from Family Action, including assistance in the establishment of each breakfast club. In March 2019 Family Action confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children classified as in scope for the 16-18 English progress measure from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds (i) achieved a grade 4 in English, (ii) made positive progress, (iii) did not enter an approved English qualification by the end of 16-18 study in 2017-18 by each prior attainment grade.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children classified as in scope for the 16-18 English progress measure from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds by prior attainment achieved (i) a GCSE grade 3 or D and (ii) other level 2 qualification; and whether they (A) did not enter an approved qualification, (B) achieved a grade 4 or above (or equivalent) and (C) made positive progress in 2017-18.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children classified as in scope for the 16-18 English progress measure were from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds in 2017-18 by each prior attainment grade.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children classified as in scope for the 16-18 maths progress measure from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds achieved a grade 4 in maths by the end of 16-18 study in 2017-18 by each prior attainment grade.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for a breakdown of the number of children classified as in scope for the 16-18 maths progress measure from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds by prior attainment qualification of (i) GCSE grade 3 or D (ii) other level 2 qualification; and whether they (A) did not enter an approved qualification, (B) achieved a grade 4 or above (or equivalent) and (C) made positive progress in 2017-18.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children classified as in scope for the 16-18 maths progress measure were from (a) disadvantaged and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds in 2017-18 by each prior attainment grade.

Nick Gibb: The number of state-funded students in scope for the 16-18 mathematics and English measures and their attainment, split by disadvantage status[1] and prior attainment, are provided in the attached tables. This expands on published data within the Department’s statistical release[2]. [1] Disadvantage status is taken from the census recorded completed for that student’s final year of key stage 4 study.[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2017-to-2018-revised. Main text, page 30-32.



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English Language and Mathematics: GCSE

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce Essential skills Maths and English for students with lower levels of attainment in respect of the GCSE curriculum.

Anne Milton: The government recognises the importance of English and maths both in work and everyday life. In England, we want to ensure that pupils benefit from reformed GCSEs, which are the gold standard qualification at 16. The new GCSEs are better at equipping young people with the literacy and numeracy required for further study and employment. Students in England who leave school without a GCSE grade 4/C or above in English and maths have to continue studying these subjects. Post-16 students with prior attainment of a GCSE grade 2 or below have a choice of which qualification to study including GCSEs and functional skills qualifications. We are reforming functional skills qualifications to improve their rigour and relevance, as well as improving their recognition amongst employers.

Children in Care

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the number of children of offenders currently in the care system.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the cost to the public purse of children of offenders taken into care in the latest period for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: ​The department does not collect information specifically on the number of children of offenders taken into care and the costs associated with this.Information is collected on the main category of need for which a child is looked-after, including low income, family in acute stress or family dysfunction, but within those categories offending by a parent is not identified separately as a reason for a child to be looked-after. The main category of need is dependent on an individual child’s circumstances; not solely a shared characteristic of parental offending. Children who are in need simply because a parent has been imprisoned but the reason for imprisonment bears no relation to the child being in need can be included as in need under the category of absent parenting.The cost of support and care placements varies across individual children. Local authorities are required to submit their spending on children in care to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, which is published annually. We also publish information on the average weekly unit costs of looked after children, by local authority, in the Local Authority Interactive Tool.

Schools: Health Education

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure the new Abortion and Abortion Care Fact Sheet for schools is balanced and objective in its use of language.

Nick Gibb: The Abortion and Abortion Care Factsheet was produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare.Schools are free to determine which resources they use, including materials to develop professional knowledge. Head teachers and subject specialists are best placed to make those decisions. The Department does not prescribe what must and must not be used.Many schools work with specialist subject associations who help schools to access high quality materials, including resources that they have quality assured.The Department is clear that in teaching about sensitive issues such as abortion, any teaching must be age-appropriate.

Academies: Land

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the total loss of former public land to academy trusts.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the financial value of public land which academy trusts own under contracts which do not contain the right of his Department to acquire the land at no cost upon termination of the funding agreement.

Nick Gibb: When schools convert to academy status, in the vast majority of cases there is no loss of publicly funded land. Most school sites are owned by a local authority (LA). When such schools convert, the LA retains ownership of the land and leases it to the academy trust. Only where a school already owns their own land prior to conversion, and even then only in some instances, will the freehold transfer to the new academy trust. Further information on these land arrangements are available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-land-transfer-advice.Where publicly funded land is legally held by an academy trust, it remains ‘publicly funded’ and therefore protected by legislation. No one can dispose or change the use of publicly funded school land without first getting consent from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. Should an academy close, or part of the land become surplus, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has powers to return it to the LA, to transfer it to another academy, or to return the proceeds of any sale to the local authority.As a further safeguard, all academy funding agreements since at least 2014 should contain an option for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State to acquire the academy trust’s legal interest in its land for nil consideration on the termination of the funding agreement. A version of this option was also in common use prior to 2014, but we do not have any central record of the rare instances in which it may have been absent.The Department has not estimated the financial value of land without such an option in place. This is because even where this may be the case, all publicly funded land at academies remains subject to Schedule 1 of the Academies Act 2010. This allows the Secretary of State to direct the transfer of the land back to the local authority, or another academy trust, should the school cease to be an academy or seek to dispose of the land.

Education: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which (a) Local Education Authorities and (b) Academy Chains undertook a rural proofing review of policies adopted in 2018-19.

Nick Gibb: ​The information requested is not held centrally. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published guidance on rural proofing for which local authorities, and others, can apply if they wish. The information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rural-proofing.

Schools: Inspections

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in England that are due to close have been inspected by Ofsted in the last 12 months; how much did each such inspection cost; and what the outcomes were of each of those inspections.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Schools: Inspections

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much notice (a) schools and (b) local authorities are given for Ofsted school inspections.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Children in Care

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) number of and (b) reasons for children being taken into care.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of children being taken into care; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures implemented by his Department to support that aim.

Nadhim Zahawi: Information on the number of children who started to be looked after during the year by reason is published in Table C1 in the statistical release ‘Children Looked After in England including Adoption’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. Information for children taken into care is shown in the attached tabled.The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them. One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families. However, that is not always possible and, as a last resort, local authorities can apply to the courts for a care or supervision order where the child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm. In making their decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the child’s best interests. Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure they are safe and receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve the social care support for children across England through our reform programme, Putting Children First. We have also established the Children’s Social Care What Works Centre, whose initial research priority focuses on ‘what works in safely reducing the need for children to enter care’. In the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. A further £84 million is also being invested over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme. This programme will support up to 20 local authorities with high or rising demand for children’s social care services to improve the support offered to vulnerable children and their families. Through this, we aim to enable more children to stay at home thriving in stable family environments, and safely reduce the number of children entering care. Across the government, we are also tackling the problems that cause children to be in need in the first place. This includes better supporting those with alcohol-dependent parents, the introduction of landmark legislation for those affected by domestic abuse, preventing young people being drawn into serious violence, and unprecedented investment in early years education and support for children and young people’s mental health.



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Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Hepatitis

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support NHS England's plan to eliminate Hepatitis C in England by 2025, especially with regard to the prison service.

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to address the variation in (a) practice and (b) uptake of opt-out testing for blood borne viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV in prisons.

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to improve continuity and cooperation between the courts, prisons and probation services to ensure that offenders have their hepatitis C medication with them when transferred between different settings.

Edward Argar: We recognise the unique opportunity that custody offers to identify and encourage individuals with Blood Borne Viruses (BBVs) to engage in treatment. NHS England are responsible for commissioning and delivering health services in prisons and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) are responsible for enabling access to healthcare services for those in custody. We are fully supportive of the work being done by NHS England and Public Health England to meet the 2025 target for the elimination of Hepatitis C in England. An opt-out policy for BBV testing was introduced in 2013, under the previous National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare in England (NPA) between NHS England (NHSE), Public Health England (PHE) and HMPPS (then NOMS). Full implementation of the opt-out testing policy for BBVs in all adult prisons in England was achieved in March 2018. Since opt-out testing was introduced, the uptake of BBV testing in prisons has increased from a baseline of 4% to 29%. This figure is an aggregate for all prisons, with some far exceeding the average uptake. This shared commitment to tackling the spread of infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV, in prisons was reaffirmed in the new NPA between NHSE, PHE, HMPPS, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and MoJ, published in April 2018. We continue to work with our health partners to identify points of attrition and barriers to testing uptake, as well as with organisations, such as the Hepatitis C Trust, to raise awareness among prison staff and prisoners about the importance of testing for BBV. We are currently reviewing the process by which defendants access essential medication whilst in the custody of the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services to ensure that it is fit for purpose and to consider further improvements. Additionally, current processes for Discharge Planning will be enhanced as a part of the Hepatitis C Pathways work being carried out by NHS England. This will ensure that individuals diagnosed with Hepatitis C who leave prison, transfer between prisons and attend court have their medication with them and have detailed instructions about accessing treatment specialists in the community. Treatment for Hepatitis C uses high value drugs, and ensuring that the full course follows the individual through the criminal justice system is a high priority for NHS England. Current processes will also be augmented by Hepatitis C Trust community peer workers engaging with people leaving prison, and through enhanced continuity of care arrangements under RECONNECT as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Probation

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people are managed by (a) community rehabilitation companies and (b) the National Probation Service in each constituency.

Robert Buckland: The information requested is not held centrally and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost.Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) and the National Probation Service (NPS) work with offenders within contracted and divisional areas, and as such statistics relating to parliamentary constituencies are not collated.The number of offenders supervised in the community, broken down by CRC and NPS regions, are included in the quarterly Offender Management statistics. This data is included in the attached table, and is taken from the latest publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018.

Prison Officers: Resignations

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2019 to Written Question 247090, Prison Officers: Resignations, for what reason private prison operators are not required to supply data relating to the length of service of their employees.

Robert Buckland: Information on numbers of staff employed at privately-managed prisons is commercially sensitive. The contracts between the Ministry of Justice and private prison providers require the contractor to be responsible for all staffing matters, including ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons. There is no requirement in the contracts to inform the Department of staffing levels in privately managed prisons, nor to agree those levels with the Department.Each privately managed prison has a full-time on-site Controller employed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) whose role it is to monitor performance at the prison across a range of indicators.

Prisons: Education

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons had issued Dynamic Purchasing System contracts for education provision by (a) 1 April 2019, and (b) 1 May 2019.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total value is of all Dynamic Purchasing System contracts for prison education issued in 2019.

Robert Buckland: We want prisons to be places of hope and aspiration that propel offenders into employment, and ultimately help to reduce the number of victims of crime in the future. Our new education programme will improve the quality of prison education by ensuring that it meets the needs of prisoners, making it more likely to lead them to a positive employment outcome on release, and break the cycle of reoffending. We issued the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) contracts to the following prisons below.(a) HM Prisons DPS Contracts by 1st April 2019(b) HM Prisons DPS Contracts by 1st May 2019GartreeGartreeChelmsfordChelmsfordHighpointHighpointHollesley BayHollesley BayThe MountThe MountWarren HillWarren HillStoke HeathStoke HeathBedfordBedfordLittleheyLittleheyEastwood ParkEastwood ParkFordFordFranklandFranklandGarthGarthLong LartinLong LartinWhattonLong LartinWhattonLiverpoolLiverpoolBuckley HallBuckley HallHindleyHindleyRisleyRisleyThorn CrossThorn Cross Full Sutton Erlestoke Northumberland Rochester Woodhill North Sea Camp Bristol Bure Norwich Wayland Stoke Heath The total value of all DPS contracts for prison education issued from 1 January to 10 May 2019 is £3,731,294.

Prisons: Education

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the educational courses on offer to offenders at each prison (a) before and (b) after 1 April 2019.

Robert Buckland: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Department for Education publishes data on prison education participation and completion rates and details on the academic years 2010/11 to 2017/18 can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/761349/201718_Nov_MAIN_OLASS_Particpation_FINALv1.xlsx

Prisons: Education

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many education staff have been placed at risk of redundancy at each prison since the introduction of new commissioning arrangements on 1 April 2019.

Robert Buckland: It is for the new education providers to determine how many staff they need to deliver the requirements of the contracts let under the Prison Education Framework and the Dynamic Purchasing System.

Prisons: Education

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of new prison education commissioning arrangements on the effectiveness of Through The Gate services; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Buckland: The new prison education commissioning arrangements are at a very early stage. It is not possible to provide an assessment of progress at this point.

Funerals: Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) Welsh Government ministers and (c) Scottish Government ministers on the implementation of the children's funeral fund in England.

Edward Argar: I have had discussions on implementation of the Children’s Funeral Fund with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance and the Minister of State for Immigration. I have not had discussions with Welsh or Scottish Government ministers. However, Ministry of Justice officials have had detailed discussions with officials in these Administrations.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of applications for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme have been decided within 12 months from initial submission in each year since 2010.

Edward Argar: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken in days from application submission to decision for compensation applications from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was in each year since 2010.

Edward Argar: The table below shows the average time taken in days from the date an application for compensation was submitted to the date a first decision was made in each year since 2010-11. PeriodAverage time taken in days from the date an application was submitted to the date a first decision was made2010-112502011-122692012-133052013-143292014-153972015-164252016-173052017-18192

Family Courts: Lone Parents

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that single mothers receive adequate support and advice in the family courts division.

Paul Maynard: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Magistrates: Recruitment

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more young people to become magistrates.

Paul Maynard: We are taking a number of steps to encourage younger people to join the magistracy, including through the use of social media to advertise recruitment campaigns and collaborative work with Universities and employers, providing talks and information to raise the profile of the role amongst a younger audience.

Landlord and Tenant

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many notices were granted by the courts under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in each year since 2010.

Paul Maynard: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Working Links

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a list of the creditors who will benefit from the Working Links Ministerial direction made on 8 May 2019.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Working Links

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the creditors who will benefit from the Working Links Ministerial direction made on 8 May 2019 are voluntary organisations.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Working Links

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a list of the value of the losses incurred in the collapse of Working Links by creditors who will benefit from the Working Links Ministerial direction made on 8 May 2019.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Working Links

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost of payments to be made following the Working Links Ministerial direction made on 8 May 2019.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for International Trade

Free Trade: Azerbaijan

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to promote free trade with Azerbaijan after the UK leaves the EU.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to promote free trade with Armenia after the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: The Department for International Trade is working to strengthen the UK’s trade and investment relationships with countries such as Azerbaijan and Armenia as we negotiate our exit from the EU. The UK is seeking continuity of existing trade arrangements with Azerbaijan and Armenia by replicating the effects of the EU-Azerbaijan Partnership & Cooperation Agreements and EU-Armenia Comprehensive & Enhanced Partnership Agreement when we leave the EU. On 3 April 2018, Judith Slater was appointed as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe and Central Asia to improve trade and collaboration with countries in this region, including Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Prime Minister has also appointed Trade Envoys to promote bilateral trade and investment in this region, including my Honourable friend the Member for Wrekin for Armenia and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne for Azerbaijan.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Disadvantaged

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure parity of access to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for disadvantaged groups.

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress the Government has made on developing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Jake Berry: Officials have made progress over the past year on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, holding 25 engagement events and meeting over 500 stakeholders from across the UK, in order to aid policy development.These initial conversations will be built upon in our forthcoming consultation. Final decisions on the Fund are due to be made at Spending Review.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answers of 3 May 2019 to Question 248691 and of 28 March 2019 to Question 236427 on Buildings: Insulation, how the construction industry was made aware before June 2017 that the core of Aluminium Composite Material cladding was to be considered filler material as the term is to be understood in Approved Document Part B Volume 2, 2006, 2010 and 2013 editions, paragraph 12.7.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 9 April to Question UIN 240560.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in his Department in each of the last five years.

Jake Berry: The number of bullying or harassment cases recorded against managers in this department in each of the last five years are as follows:2014/15 – none recorded2015/16 – none recorded2016/17 – none recorded2017/18 – three cases recorded against managers2018/19 – three cases recorded against managersBullying and harassment has no place in any workplace, including the Civil Service. The department is strengthening the routes for staff to report bullying and harassment to ensure that all staff are fully supported throughout the process, and to ensure cultures are positive and inclusive.

Business Premises: Change of Use

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the availability of business premises of permitted development rules allowing offices to be converted into housing.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



The permitted development right for the change of use from office to residential is making an important contribution to the delivery of new homes across the country. In the three years to March 2018, over 42,000 homes to buy or to rent have been delivered under the right.Where it is felt that it is necessary to protect the local amenity or wellbeing of an area, the local planning authority can consult the local community on removing a permitted development right by making an Article 4 direction. This requires that a planning application must be submitted which the local planning authority can determine in accordance with its local plan.

Owner Occupation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of home ownership in England in each National Statistics socio-economic classification category in each year since 2012.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



The English Housing Survey has reported on NS-SEC classification of home owners since 2015-16. The details of this are set out in a table below. We have not published the socio-economic classification of home owners prior to 2015-16.   NS-SEC of Household Reference Person, Home owners, 2015-16 through 2016-17NS-SEC classification2015-162016-17thousands of households  higher managerial and professional occupations2,9332,802lower managerial and professional occupations4,2484,148intermediate occupations1,5311,664small employers and own account workers1,4561,512lower supervisory and technical occupations1,0671,130semi-routine occupations1,3201,411routine occupations1,1341,073All households13,68913,740NS-SEC classification2015-162016-17percentages  higher managerial and professional occupations21.420.4lower managerial and professional occupations31.030.2intermediate occupations11.212.1small employers and own account workers10.611.0lower supervisory and technical occupations7.88.2semi-routine occupations9.610.3routine occupations8.37.8All households100.0100.0

Housing: Construction

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) improve the quality of newly built houses and (b) ensure that purchasers of newly built homes are able to have defects rectified swiftly; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: I want to ensure we can be proud of the next generation of homes we build. We know more needs to be done to protect consumers.We have announced our intention for a New Homes Ombudsman to be established and I am considering options for a shadow ombudsman. We will be bringing forward legislation to require developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman, which will treat home buyers fairly. We’ll soon be consulting on the details of how this will work - to raise standards and ensure that problems encountered by consumers are resolved faster and more effectively.We will also establish the condition that housing developers must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman to participate in the new Help to Buy Scheme in England, post 2021. In the meantime we expect industry to improve the quality of new build homes in the first place, treat customers fairly and resolve problems swiftly.

5G

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of of current permitted development rights for (a) mobile infrastructure and (b) 5G in helping the UK become a world-leading 5G economy.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 14 May 2019



We published the revised National Planning Policy Framework in 2018, setting out national planning policies for supporting high quality communications in England. These include that the planning policies and decisions of local planning authorities should support the expansion of electronic communications networks, such as 5G.We have also introduced a range of permitted development rights to support the delivery of mobile infrastructure, including legislating for higher masts in 2016, whilst also protecting local amenity.We hope that these measures will be used by industry, alongside proactive engagement with the planning system, to ensure delivery of 5G. However, we will keep planning regulations under review.

Affordable Housing: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to reassess the threshold for affordable housing on rural exception sites.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Housing: Floods

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of new homes built on flood plains in each of the last eight years.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2019 to Question 245803 on Buildings: Insulation, whether the testing of non-aluminium composite materials has started.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to publish the results of the testing of non-aluminium composite materials.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what date was originally specified in the contract with the Buildings Research Establishment for the completion of testing of non-aluminium composite materials.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Hexavalent Chromium

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are trained in the application of paints containing Hexavalent Chromium; and on how many occasions such paint was applied to military vehicles and vessels in each year since 2013.

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a)  current and (b) former serving armed forces personnel that may have been exposed to paint containing Hexavalent Chromium.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have ready access to the information you have requested as it is not centrally recorded. Hexavalent chromium paint is now only used by the MOD on platforms where there is no suitable alternative and where it is absolutely necessary to maintain defence capability and safety. The MOD is alert to the health and safety risks associated with hexavalent chromate and provides guidance, safety data sheets, training and working instructions for personnel known to be working with the substance, together with personal protective equipment. The MOD has a small number of exemptions in place for known instances of hexavalent chromate application and is working hard to identify alternatives in these cases.

Armed Forces: Females

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress she has made towards the target of 15 per cent female recruitment to the armed forces by 2020.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion recruits to the armed forces in 2018 were female.

Mark Lancaster: In the 12 months to 30 September 2018, 1,320 female personnel joined the UK Regular Forces, which was 10.9 per cent of the total intake.Data on female intake into the UK Regular Forces is published twice a year in the UK Armed Forces Biannual Diversity Statistics publication. Figures up to 1 October 2018 were published on 13 December 2018 at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/763676/1_October_2018_Biannual_Diversity_Statistics.pdf The Ministry of Defence is working to achieve a more diverse and inclusive workforce at all levels, including through increased female representation. This work includes better understanding and greater engagement with potential female recruits; targeting recruitment campaigns; supporting candidates through the recruitment process; opening all roles within the Armed Forces to women; and enabling Service personnel to request fixed periods of part-time working, or varying their deployability, if operational requirements allow it, to better fit their service career around family life.

Ministry of Defence: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate she has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in her Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of bullying and harassment cases recorded against managers is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes bullying and harassment very seriously and will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour of any nature. The Department is continually assessing and identifying ways to improve the culture of the workplace, reduce tolerance of inappropriate behaviour further, including bullying and harassment, and making it easier for staff to report possible misconduct as well as providing more support to staff who have experienced it, and providing more effective and quicker routes to resolution. The MOD has introduced a ‘SpeakSafe Helpline’ offering MOD employees a safe space to discuss issues relating to bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace with experienced practitioners, outside of their immediate workplace, who will offer advice and support. The SpeakSafe service is impartial and confidential, allowing callers to remain anonymous, if they wish.

Australia: Joint Exercises

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what joint military exercises the UK plans to undertake with Australia.

Mark Lancaster: The UK and Australia continue to exercise alongside each other regularly. Plans include:Exercise Pacific Kukri involving elements of British Forces Brunei in Australia enabled by the Australian Army.Exercise Talisman Sabre, primarily a US/Australian Exercise, but also involving Royal Marine and RAF personnel.Exercise Diamond Strike, a US/Australian air warfare exercise, also involving a small number of RAF personnel.Exercise Bersama Lima, the key annual exercise for the Five Powers Defence Arrangements, including force elements from the RAF participating alongside the RAAF in 2019

Canada: Joint Exercises

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what joint military exercises the UK plans to undertake with Canada.

Mark Lancaster: As founding members of NATO, the UK and Canada regularly exercise together in NATO exercises, such as the US-led Baltops this summer and the UK-led Joint Warrior. Outside of NATO the UK and Canada plan to exercise together in a range of different exercises, including Cutlass Fury in September 2019, Nanook-Tuugaalik in 2020 and Maple Flag in 2021 should it be reinstated by the Canadians.

Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 241447 on Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay, what those works will entail; what residents of Dalgety Bay and the surrounding area can expect in terms of disruption to their lives; and what visual remediation will take place on site at the end of each period of works.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The implementation of the agreed management strategy at Dalgety Bay involves the removal of radium sources; the reinforcement, replacement and extension of coastal armour stone and the construction of a replacement slipway at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club.It is not possible at this time to determine the amount of disruption that may be caused by the work at Dalgety Bay as this has only recently gone to tender. Once a contractor has been appointed, a construction plan will be developed by them in consultation with the local council to minimise disruption.Works on site will only be permitted between 1 April and 30 September each year. At the end of the first season any incomplete works will be protected and made safe, and will be completed in the following season.

Armed Forces: Bullying

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many instances of alleged bullying have been made in Northern Ireland (a) in Army Cadet Force units and (b) where the complainant at the time of the complaint held the rank of Lieutenant or above in each of the last three years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Allegations of this type are recorded under the category of bullying and harassment. On average, 10 allegations of bullying and harassment have been made within each of the three previous financial years by members of the Army Cadet Force units in Northern Ireland, although this should not be taken to assume there were 10 in each year; the numbers vary. This will include cadets and all Cadet Force Adult Volunteers (officers, adult instructors and non-uniformed volunteers). To provide the number of allegations made by those holding the rank of Lieutenant and above would be disclosive given the very small number involved.

USA: Diego Garcia

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether her US counterparts have requested to deploy US B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia.

Mark Lancaster: I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and another State.

EU Defence Policy

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which Common Security and Defence Policy (a) missions and (b) operations the UK contributes to; and which other countries participate in each of those missions.

Mark Lancaster: The UK deploys personnel to two military Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) operations (Operation ALTHEA and Operation SOPHIA), two military training missions in Mali and Somalia, and three civilian missions in Georgia, Kosovo and Ukraine. As an EU Member State, we also provide common funding for all CSDP operations and missions, both military and civilian. Other countries contribute personnel, equipment and funding to all of the CSDP operations and missions in which we take part. We can provide a snapshot of contributions by other states for the week ending 5 May 2019: Operation ALTHEA: Austria; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Greece; Spain; France; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia; UK; Albania; Switzerland; Chile; Northern Macedonia and Turkey.Operation SOPHIA: Austria; Bulgaria; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Germany; Denmark; Estonia; Greece; Spain; Finland; France; Croatia; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Latvia; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Sweden; Slovenia and UK. EU Treaty Mission (EUTM) Mali: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Germany; Estonia; Greece; Spain; Finland; France; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Latvia; Netherlands; Portugal; Romania; Sweden; Slovenia; UK; Albania; Georgia; Montenegro and Serbia. EUTM Somalia: Spain; Finland; Italy; Portugal; Romania' Sweden; UK and Serbia. EU Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) Kosovo: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Germany; Estonia; Greece; Spain; Finland; France; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal' Romania; Sweden; Slovakia; Slovenia; UK and Switzerland. EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) Georgia: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; France; Germany; Estonia; Greece; Spain; Finland; Croatia; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Latvia; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Sweden; Slovakia; Slovenia and UK. EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine: Austria; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Germany; Denmark; Estonia; Greece; Spain; Finland; France; Croatia; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Latvia; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Sweden; Slovakia; Slovenia; UK and Canada.

Veterans: Criminal Investigation

Mr Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the pastoral support provided to veterans subject to historic investigations.

Mark Lancaster: Within the Army's Personnel Services Group (APSG), the Operational Legacy team coordinates welfare and pastoral support to Army veterans and serving personnel who are subject to historical investigations. APSG has drawn together all stakeholders (Including those in the Ministry of Defence, the appropriate Regimental Headquarters and Associations, the Confederation of Service Charities and 'ABF - The Soldiers' Charity') to ensure coherent pastoral support to veterans, under the primacy of the MOD's Veterans UK. This is incorporated into the recently announced UK-Wide Veterans' Strategy and is supported by £10 million of funding overall. I am confident that this demonstrates that the Department has a clear strategy and is meeting its obligations to veterans subject to historical investigations, whilst also protecting the Army's reputation for future generations of soldiers.

Veterans: Criminal Investigation

Mr Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if her Department will ensure that all veterans who are under investigation in relation to historic cases in Northern Ireland are made aware of her Department's welfare and pastoral support.

Mark Lancaster: It is a very high priority for Defence to ensure that all personnel involved in Northern Ireland Legacy matters are offered, free, appropriate legal and pastoral support, taking account of individual circumstances, including health and wellbeing. For both inquests and criminal investigations, we contact every veteran as soon as we have been made aware of their potential involvement. This contact will signpost points of contact within the Ministry itself, (including the MOD's 'Veterans UK'); the Army, including the Army Personnel Services Group and Regimental Associations or equivalent organisations and relevant charities and third sector bodies. In addition, MOD officials are in frequent contact with veterans' organisations and other interested bodies and make every effort to publicise this support through appropriate channels, to ensure that the wider veterans' community has a channel through which they can contact the Department if appropriate. We also have appropriate points of contact so that those of whom we are not initially aware, can initiate contact with the right people.

Netherlands: Military Alliances

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps she is taking to increase defence and security cooperation with the Netherlands.

Mark Lancaster: The Netherlands is one of the UK's closest defence and security partners and NATO Ally, a relationship which we are enhancing further under the 2017 Joint Vision Statement and annual Action Plan that underpins it, and through the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force and the Northern Group.

Department for Work and Pensions

Flexible Support Fund

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the overall levels of payment were from the Flexible Support Fund (a) in each region, and (b) on (i) childcare, (ii) training, (iii) clothing for work and (iv) other categories of activity in each of the last 24 months.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 15 April 2019



The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables attached.



Flexible Support Fund Expenditure by Region
(Word Document, 19.67 KB)

State Retirement Pensions: Reciprocal Arrangements

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect the UK leaving the EU without a deal would have on reciprocal pension agreements with EU member states.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions the Government have held with (a) the EU and (b) individual EU member states on reciprocal pension agreements after the UK leaves the EU.

Guy Opperman: The Government has consistently put citizens’ rights first in our negotiations with the EU. The best way to guarantee those rights, which include social security, both for UK nationals in the EU and EU citizens in the UK, is the deal that the Government has secured. The Government supported the amendment put forward by Alberto Costa MP which requires the Government to seek a joint UK/EU commitment to preserve the citizens’ rights section of the Withdrawal Agreement whatever the outcome of negotiations. The letter to the European Commission setting out the Government’s position and the Commission’s reply is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/costa-amendment-letter-to-the-eu-institutions The current EU arrangements providing for reciprocity in social security would no longer apply if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government has made an (a) reciprocal or (b) unilateral agreement to maintain the annual increases to the pensions of UK citizens residing in the Republic of Ireland if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Guy Opperman: The UK and Ireland signed on the 1 February 2019 a reciprocal agreement which will protect the social security rights of UK and Irish nationals living and/or working in each other’s state when the UK leaves the EU. It allows for the payment of each country’s uprated state pensions to recipients living in the other.

Housing Benefit

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the recommendation to exempt claimants in temporary accommodation from the benefit cap on page 7 of the report of the Work and Pensions Committee, The Benefit Cap, published on 12 March 2019, HC 1477, if she will ask local authorities to publish the number of households that are currently affected by the cap in their area; and how much Discretionary Housing Payment funding has been used to cover their rent shortfalls in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Will Quince: The latest official statistics for households capped under Housing Benefit and Universal Credit were published on 2nd May 2019, and contain data on households capped to February 2019, published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-february-2019.Statistics by Local Authority are available in Tables 2 and 9, respectively. The number of households who have had their Housing Benefit award capped by local authorities are also published on the DWP Stat Xplore portal (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). Statistics on the use of Discretionary Housing Payments (for local authorities in England and Wales) are provided by local authorities on a voluntary basis and as such may not correspond exactly to the total Discretionary Housing Payment funds allocated. In addition, Discretionary Housing Payment awards can be recorded against a combination of welfare reform categories including households affected by the benefit cap. The latest statistics on spend by local authorities, covering the period April to September 2018, are published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/use-of-discretionary-housing-payments-april-to-september-2018.Statistics relating to the specific welfare reform category can be found in Table 7. The latest full year of statistics available are for the 17/18 financial year and are published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/use-of-discretionary-housing-payments-financial-year-2017-to-2018.

Universal Credit: Cancer

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that universal credit phone-line staff are adequately trained to understand the complex needs of claimants suffering with cancer.

Alok Sharma: All DWP staff delivering Universal Credit undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to all claimants, including those who have cancer and other serious health conditions. Colleagues receive on-going learning in their roles and have access to Universal Credit guidance which is refreshed at regular intervals. The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants. We are committed to ensuring that people who have cancer are treated with the upmost sensitivity and care, when making a claim to Universal Credit. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people who claim Universal Credit to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs. This includes how they are identified and supported, either from our own staff or via referrals from local services. For instance, when a claimant is asked to attend a Work Capability Assessment, they are required to complete a UC50 questionnaire which incorporates a 'light touch' evidence gathering process for cancer patients; and makes clear that Clinical Nurse Specialists and consultants can provide information on the form.

Pensions

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has plans to introduce the Pensions Bill before summer 2019.

Guy Opperman: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



This Government has recently published responses to a series of consultations, and have engaged extensively with key stakeholders and the Pensions Regulator. In these we have committed to strengthen the Pensions Regulator’s powers to both enforce pension’s legislation and to punish those who have acted recklessly or failed to comply with their obligations. We have committed to facilitate industry to make pensions dashboards a reality. We are also compelling pension schemes to make consumers data available to them and to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes. The Government will bring forward legislation to introduce these measures as soon as parliamentary time permits.

Television: Licensing

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Glasgow South West constituency, (b) Glasgow City local authority area and (c) Scotland in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.

Guy Opperman: Holding answer received on 13 May 2019



The policy for free TV licences for those aged 75 and over is the responsibility of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport until the BBC takes responsibility in 2020. The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 years and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.  Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) 2017-18(a) Glasgow South West constituency£0.7(b) Glasgow City local authority£4.0(c) Scotland£51.7

Department for Work and Pensions: Immigration

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will place in the Library, a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between her Department and HMRC in relation to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Alok Sharma: Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) regarding the EU Settlement Scheme have set out the information sharing arrangements between the Home Office and DWP, and separately, between the Home Office and HMRC. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check. Each department has direct arrangements with the Home Office, therefore there is no requirement for an MOU between DWP and HMRC.

Universal Credit

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on advertising universal credit in the Metro newspaper to date; and if she will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: The Department provides services to around 22 million people, and has a responsibility to communicate policy and essential information to claimants and other key audiences, in a similar way to other government departments. The ‘Opening Up Work’ campaign aims to increase understanding of how Universal Credit removes barriers to work and aids career progression, and to provide information to help people make a claim. The Department has spent the amounts shown in the table below with the Metro newspaper. Financial YearSpend (£)2017/1820,918.162018/1923,628.96Source: DWP internal accounts

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Foxes: Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Natural England on the provision of information on fox numbers in each site of special scientific interest; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: I have been well informed of the discussions that my officials are having with Natural England (NE) on this issue. NE’s licencing process for badger control includes a detailed assessment of effects on protected wildlife sites such as sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). In 2018, NE’s successful defence of judicial review proceedings against these assessments included a commitment to review its procedures on and within 2km of SSSIs, where they support bird species which may be vulnerable to a potential increase in fox predation as a result of a reduction in badger numbers. NE will collect information in order to make a judgement on whether sufficient fox control is taking place to avoid this potential risk.

Horse Racing: Animal Welfare

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the British Horseracing Authority on the death of the horse named Up For Review during the Grand National race.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether autopsies were carried out on racehorses Crucial Role and Up For Review after the Grand National meeting.

David Rutley: The Government is keen that the welfare needs of racehorses are well met, both during their racing lives and afterwards and any racehorse fatality is one too many. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is responsible for the safety of racehorses at British racecourses, including the Grand National. The BHA works alongside the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare to make horseracing as safe as possible. However, both I and the BHA consider that more can be done to make horseracing safer which is why I have been holding regular discussions with the BHA about this, including the fatalities at the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival 2019 as well at any other racetrack. On 14 May, I am due to meet the BHA Chair and the new independent Chair of the BHA’s newly appointed Horse Welfare Board when I will again press them on what progress they are making to improve racehorse safety and what further lessons have been learned from this year’s Grand National and Cheltenham Festival. The Government understands that the BHA carried out post-mortem examinations on all three horses which incurred fatal injuries at the Aintree Grand National meeting.

Pheasants: Imports

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pheasant (a) eggs for hatching and (b) live birds were imported into England from each (a) EU country and (b) third country in the last year for which figures are available.

David Rutley: The number of pheasant hatching eggs and live birds imported into England from the EU in 2018 was:  Country of OriginTotalHatching EggsFrance13,070,875 Poland1,211,480 Portugal15,000 Spain943,620Hatching Eggs Total15,240,975Live BirdsBelgium12,000 France5,943,220Live Birds Total5,955,220 The number of pheasant hatching eggs and live birds imported into the UK from third countries in 2018 was: Hatching eggs – 91,560Live birds – 5,250 All imports were from the USA. The Animal and Plant Health Agency is not able to determine how many of the above imports from third countries were imported into England.

Wildlife: Smuggling

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the illegal wildlife trade coming through Scottish ports and airports.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The UK is a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which regulates the wildlife trade and protects endangered wildlife from unsustainable trade. These obligations are effected in the UK through the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations. The issuance of CITES import, export and re-export permits is administered in the UK by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Compliance with the regulations and licensing requirements is enforced across all UK borders.

Health: Air Pollution

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural affairs, what steps his Department took to alert (a) children, (b) older people, (c) people with health conditions and (d) other vulnerable groups to the pollution episodes that occurred across England between 4-26 April 2019.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: During episodes of elevated air pollution (including the episodes between 4-26 April 2019), Defra works closely with Public Health England and a network of health charities to ensure that key health messages are communicated to those who are vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, in addition to communicating through our normal digital channels. Defra’s Daily Air Quality Index (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/air-pollution/daqi) assists in understanding air pollution levels and suggests recommended actions and health advice. Such advice applies to anyone experiencing symptoms.

Meteorology: 5G

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction 5G services on the accuracy of weather forecast predictions.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Defra Digital Data and Technology Services (DDTS) has been tracking, through its emerging technology scanning activity, the recent news on the potential impact of the introduction of 5G services on the accuracy of weather forecast predictions. Defra DDTS has not undertaken any assessment of this potential impact, and is not aware of any such assessment being undertaken within Defra. The Environment Agency and the Met Office Flood Forecasting Service would be expected to undertake such an assessment, but this service is not within core Defra.

Ash Dieback Disease

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department provides to local authorities to help safely dispose of trees felled as a result of Ash dieback disease.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Under the Occupiers Liability Act, individual landowners are responsible for the care and management of trees on their land. We encourage all landowners to think strategically about the management of their ash trees, and use the recently published Forestry Commission guidance and the Tree Council’s ash dieback toolkit, to adopt best practice and help reduce the impact of this disease on our landscape. Onward spread of ash dieback via wood/timber is considered to be a low risk, so ash wood may be moved without restriction within Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), to help landowners recover some of the value from the timber.

Ash Dieback Disease

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made on the cost to the public purse of Ash dieback disease.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We do not collate costs relating to felling of diseased ash. Individual landowners, including local authorities, are responsible for the care and management of ash trees on their land. The cost of ash dieback will differ between local authorities, depending on the prevalence of ash trees and the concentration of those trees that are affected by the disease. Council budgets for the care and management of trees on their land are determined by individual local authorities. Defra funds work on horizon scanning, border biosecurity, disease surveillance, contingency planning and research as part of an extensive programme of work on plant health. For example, since 2012 the Government has invested over £6 million in ash dieback research.

Hares: Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the confirmation of cases of type 2 rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus in hares in January 2019, what epidemiological modelling (a) his Department and (b) the Animal and Plant Health Agency have conducted to assess the potential effect of that disease on the hare population.

David Rutley: There has not been any epidemiological modelling on rabbit haemorrhagic disease in hares carried out by Defra or the Animal and Plant Health Agency. There is insufficient evidence on rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus in hares to allow valid modelling.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research projects (a) his Department and (b) his department's agencies have (i) commissioned and (ii) plan to commission into type 2 rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus.

David Rutley: There are diagnostic tests and vaccines for rabbit haemorrhagic disease available for use in rabbits. We have no immediate plans for additional research, but will keep this under review.

Animal Welfare

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has plans to improve animal rights after the UK leaves the EU.

David Rutley: We will maintain and enhance our high animal welfare standards as we leave the EU. We recently laid legislation to ban travelling circuses from using wild animals and to tackle puppy farming by ending third party sales. We have made CCTV mandatory in slaughterhouses and are introducing one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales to protect elephants from poaching. Each of these measures goes further than EU rules require.

Coastal Areas: Flood Control

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of miles of English coastline which are deemed unbeneficial for flood protection or adaption.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: This is a devolved matter and the answer applies to England.The Government has not made any such assessment. Shoreline management plans prepared and approved by local authorities contain details of expected levels of protection.

Flood Control

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the resilience of (a) homes and (b) businesses against flooding.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. In England, we are working with the commercial and technical sectors through a business led Property Flood Resilience Roundtable, to increase the uptake of flood resilience approaches (recoverability and resistance), both by homes and businesses, in areas at risk of flooding. Flood Re was established in 2016 to help improve the affordability and availability of Flood Insurance for homes at high risk of flooding across the whole of the UK (including Wales). Flood Re is required to take action to help the flood insurance market transition to one that is risk reflective by 2039. This includes exploring ways in which Flood Re can help improve the uptake of flood resilience measures in homes at risk of flooding. Our investment programme will better protect at least 300,000 homes from the risk of all flooding and coastal erosion by 2020/21. Up to 60,000 commercial properties have also benefited from better protection thanks to these schemes. Property Flood Resistance schemes are eligible for GIA and are used where it is technically or financially difficult to use other mechanisms and for residual risk to increase the level of protection from an asset.

Dogs: Tagging

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislation for mandatory microchip scanning for all pet dogs at routine visits to the veterinarian.

David Rutley: The Government agrees with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) that it is good practice for veterinary practices to scan dogs that are presented to them, and particularly for the first time, but that it should not be compulsory for them to do so, as in some circumstances this might deter some owners from presenting their dogs at veterinary practices for much needed treatment. On 23 April 2019, I understand representatives of the group Vets Get Scanning and the BVA met to discuss this issue. The BVA has undertaken to remind veterinary practices to scan dogs in line with best practice and help owners understand the importance of keeping their microchipping records up to date.

Dangerous Dogs

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing behaviour testing of dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in order to reduce the number of dogs needlessly destroyed.

David Rutley: A dangerous dogs exemption scheme already operates under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 which allows the Courts to decide that individual dogs of types subject to the general prohibition may be kept, subject to certain conditions, if they are considered not to represent a risk to the general public based on the dog’s temperament and behaviour and that the owner is a fit and proper person.

Dangerous Dogs

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of breed specific legislation in reducing the number of dog attacks.

David Rutley: The Government considers that the general prohibition on certain types of dog bred for fighting, or that share the characteristics of dogs bred for fighting, should remain in place. Evidence shows that pitbull type dogs are responsible for a disproportionate number of attacks on people and fatalities, and should not be kept without individual dogs being subject to a public safety test including that the owner is a fit and proper person. We have not seen any evidence that shows removing the general prohibition would reduce the number of dog attacks.

Tree Planting

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the target to plant eleven million trees between 2015 and 2020.

David Rutley: This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The Government has planted 15 million trees since 2010, and remains committed to planting 11 million trees in this Parliament, 2017-22. Woodland creation is a key activity of our 25 Year Environment Plan. The Forestry Commission routinely publishes statistics on planting rates as part of its Corporate Performance Indicators. The latest figures show that from April 2017 to end March 2019 at least 3.2 million trees have been planted, equivalent to approximately 2,083 hectares of woodland creation. The Government’s support for this woodland creation has predominantly been from the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Further Government support has been through the Environment Agency and National Forest Company. In the Autumn Budget the Government announced an additional £60 million for tree planting initiatives, comprising £10 million to fund urban tree planting and £50 million for a Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme. This will add to other new planting in the pipeline, supported by the High Speed 2 Woodland Fund, the Woodland Carbon Fund and the Government’s kick start investment in the Northern Forest.

Home Office

Migration Advisory Committee: Public Appointments

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to begin the recruitment process for a new chair of the Migration Advisory Committee.

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Immigration on 30 April 2019, Official Report, Col 85WH, how many applicants for positions on the Migration Advisory Committee satisfied the criteria of having had experience of business in recruitment processes that have taken place since January 2013.

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Immigration on 30 April 2019, Official Report Columns 84-87WH, how many applicants for positions on the Migration Advisory Committee who satisfied the criteria of having had business experience were subsequently deemed unappointable by the Selection Panel for recruitment processes that have taken place since 2013.

Caroline Nokes: Any appointment to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will be made in line with the Cabinet Office Governance Code for Public Appointments 2016. The Government will consider the position of the MAC Chair shortly.  Information about the business experience of candidates is not collected in the form requested.Following the publication of the Governance Code in 2016, candidates for public appointments have been given the option to declare the sector of their principal employment. In the recruitment campaign for MAC members in 2017, two candidates, neither of whom was appointed, declared that their principal employment was in the private sector. This does not mean that other candidates did not have business experience which they chose to highlight in their application or, if appropriate, their interview.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to investigate the low take up of the private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Caroline Nokes: The total number of applications received since the testing of the scheme began on 28 August 2018 is now over 600,000, and we received over 50,000 applications in the first weekend the scheme was fully live.  In total, over 230,000 people applied during the three testing phases of the EU Settlement Scheme. Over 31,000 of these people applied during the two private beta testing phases and we do not consider that this was a low turnout or that it needs investigating. It was not our intention to process high volumes during these phases, which were implemented gradually to bring the systems up to scale in a controlled way. This gave us a valuable evidence base from which to assess the application process and allowed for incremental improvements to be made in response to applicant feedbackWe have been clear that applying during the testing phases was voluntary and EU citizens will have until 30 June 2021 to apply, in line with the draft Withdrawal Agreement, or until 31 December 2020 in the event of no deal.

Death Certificates: Digital Technology

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing a secure digital death certification service.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office is working with the Department of Health and Social Care on taking forward the death certification reforms.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department undertook an Equality Impact Assessment assessment of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Caroline Nokes: In accordance with the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Government has had due regard to the impacts of the EU Settlement Scheme on those who share a protected characteristic.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether applicants to the EU Settlement Scheme whose automated residency check result is (a) wholly or (b) partially unsuccessful will be informed of the reasons for that result.

Caroline Nokes: The automated checks of employment and benefits records of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme by those who choose to provide their National Insurance number have enabled most adults so far granted status under the scheme to be so without needing to provide any further evidence of their UK residence.Where the automated checks do not provide sufficient evidence of UK residence for the applicant to be granted the status for which they think they qualify, they can upload a wide variety of documentary evidence.Where this is necessary, the results of the checks will indicate to the applicant which period(s) of residence they need to evidence. We will not be able to tell applicants why the automated check is unable to cover all their UK residence because doing so may introduce the risk of identity theft and abuse. We recognise that some applicants may lack documentary evidence for various reasons, and we will work flexibly with applicants to help them evidence their UK residence by the best means available to them.More information about the automated checks including why records may not be found in full or in part is available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check.

Immigration: Applications

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average time taken was for UK Visas & Immigration to process indefinite leave to remain applications in each year since 2010; what proportion of those applications application were responded to outside of the 20-day service standard; and what the average number of days was for those response times that exceeded the service standard.

Caroline Nokes: We do not publish this specific data for all applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), however the vast majority of such cases are dealt with within the service standard of 6 months (which applies to straightforward applications, where the customer has met all their obligations). Where an application is defined as non-straightforward, due to complexity, the customer will be written to within the normal processing time to explain why it will not be decided within the normal standard, and to explain what will happen next).The published statistics on leave to remain applications that have been processed within service standard can be found in the migration transparency data release https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-february-2019 at: InC_02: Percentage of In-Country visa applications, for each Route, processed within Service Standards.

Police: Rural Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces undertook a rural proofing review of policies adopted in 2018-2019.

Mr Nick Hurd: We recognise that certain crimes may disproportionately or predominantly affect rural areas. That is why we welcome the Rural Affairs Strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in July 2018. The Strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crime and can be found at: https://www.nwcu.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/NPCC-Rural-affairs-Strategy-2018-2021.pdf.Through the election of Police and Crime Commissioners we have ensured that communities, including those in rural areas, have a strong voice in determining how police resources are allocated to tackle the crimes that matter most to them.

Cabinet Office

Brexit: Referendums

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what analysis did the Chancellor of the Exchequer used for the statement that it is unlikely, at a technical level, whether there would be enough time to legislate for a confirmatory referendum on the EU Withdrawal Agreement before the UK leaves the EU reported in the Guardian on 12 April 2019.

Mr David Lidington: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 25 April 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU.An Act of Parliament is required before any UK-wide referendum can be held, the terms of which are for Parliament to debate and agree, including provisions for setting the data, franchise and the question as well as incorpating adequate time to prepare for the poll and a minimum campaigning period. The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU. An Act of Parliament is required before any UK-wide referendum can be held, the terms of which are for Parliament to debate and agree, including provisions for setting the date, franchise and the question as well as incorporating adequate time to prepare for the poll and a minimum campaigning period.

Mr David Lidington: The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU.An Act of Parliament is required before any UK-wide referendum can be held, the terms of which are for Parliament to debate and agree, including provisions for setting the data, franchise and the question as well as incorpating adequate time to prepare for the poll and a minimum campaigning period. The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU. An Act of Parliament is required before any UK-wide referendum can be held, the terms of which are for Parliament to debate and agree, including provisions for setting the date, franchise and the question as well as incorporating adequate time to prepare for the poll and a minimum campaigning period.

Politics and Government: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the results of the polling his Department recently commissioned from Ipsos-Mori on Scottish opinion on the state of the union.

Kevin Foster: The Government considers publication of research in line with relevant guidelines.

Huawei: 5G

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 250002, how many and what proportion of UK 5G operators (a) use and (b) do not use the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre advice.

Mr David Lidington: The annual report generated by the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) Oversight Board which includes communication service provider representatives is publicly available. We do not track how many operators use Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre advice.It remains the responsibility of operators to ensure the security and resilience of their networks, based on all the available advice from both Government and the private sector. Ofcom are the regulator for the telecoms industry and consider whether operators are meeting their responsibilities and investigate as appropriate.

European Parliament: Elections

Mike Gapes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will respond to (a) the letter sent to him on 28 April by the organisation New Europeans, (b) Early Day motion 2357, tabled on 1 May and (c) the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Ilford South, of 9 May 2019 on EU citizens voting in the European election on 23 May 2019.

Kevin Foster: The latest date in which an EU citizen can submit a UC1 form to register as an elector in the European Parliament elections is 12 working days before the date of the election. This is based on regulations contained within Representation of the People Act 1983, Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, and Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008. The rules governing the conduct of European Parliament elections provide for poll cards only to be sent to individuals who are registered to vote in the poll or an individual who has been appointed to vote as proxy for an elector. There is no provision for poll cards to be issued to any other individuals. Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens' declarations to their Home State to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice, both here and in another EU country. The Council Directive specifies that this has to be done "sufficiently in advance of polling day"

European Parliament: Elections

Mike Gapes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to ensure that EU citizens in the UK who wish to vote in the EU elections are able to do so by (a) making the UC1 form which EU citizens need to complete in order to declare they are not voting in another EU member state available at all polling stations on 23 May 2019; (b) instructing all local authorities to write by first-class mail to EU citizens to inform them they will be able to vote by filling in a UC1 form which will be available at polling stations; and (c) directing local authorities to send polling cards to all EU citizens and not just those who have completed and returned the UC1 form.

Kevin Foster: The latest date in which an EU citizen can submit a UC1 form to register as an elector in the European Parliament elections is 12 working days before the date of the election. This is based on regulations contained within Representation of the People Act 1983, Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, and Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008. The rules governing the conduct of European Parliament elections provide for poll cards only to be sent to individuals who are registered to vote in the poll or an individual who has been appointed to vote as proxy for an elector. There is no provision for poll cards to be issued to any other individuals. Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens' declarations to their Home State to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice, both here and in another EU country. The Council Directive specifies that this has to be done "sufficiently in advance of polling day.

Brexit: Referendums

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April to Written Question 246007, if he will make an assessment of the shortest possible timeframe for legislating for a confirmatory referendum on the EU Withdrawal Agreement, in accordance with the process described in that Answer.

Mr David Lidington: Primary Legislation would be necessary. The length of time a Bill would take to get through Parliament would be a matter for Parliament. The government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership.

Treasury

Mental Health Services: Capital Investment

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allocating additional capital funding to the mental health estate in the forthcoming Spending Review.

Elizabeth Truss: Government has committed £3.9bn of new capital investment by 2022/23 to transform and modernise NHS buildings. Of this, £2.6bn of capital funding has been allocated to 153 STP transformation schemes – the single biggest injection of its kind in the NHS in over a decade. This includes about £300m for mental health and learning disability schemes. In addition, the Department of Health and Social Care spent almost £25m capital last year on central programmes to support mental health services. This includes schemes to deliver Perinatal Mental Health Mother & Baby Units to deliver more personalised care to expectant and new mums with serious mental ill health. Improving mental health is at the heart of this government’s agenda and the STP capital investment is another step in the government’s ambition to achieve greater parity between physical and mental health care. All future capital funding proposals will be assessed at the forthcoming Zero-Based Capital Review at the Spending Review. The government is increasing NHS spending by £33.9bn in cash terms by 2023/24 – reflecting that the NHS is this government’s top spending priority.

Children: Maintenance

Luke Graham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HMRC takes to verify the income of people liable for child maintenance payments.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are responsible for the assessment of Child Maintenance payments, including the verification of the absent parent’s income. Upon request from DWP, HMRC provide information held on their National Insurance and PAYE Service, or their Self-Assessment Service. The information is made available under a Memorandum of Understanding, and is for the latest completed tax year.

Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will call a summit with industry representatives, with the objective of ensuring the continued provision of free cash withdrawals at ATMs in deprived communities.

John Glen: Last year, the Government initiated a discussion on payment methods through a Call for Evidence on Cash and Digital Payments in the New Economy. This sought to gather evidence from industry and the public alike on how changing preferences for cash and digital payments impact on different sectors, regions and demographics. A formal Summary of Responses to this Call for Evidence was published in May 2019. This response set out the Government’s commitment to supporting digital payments, whilst safeguarding access to cash for those who need it. It also highlighted that the Treasury would set up and chair a Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group, made up of regulators and the Bank of England, to facilitate further co-ordination between the authorities and provide comprehensive oversight of the overall cash infrastructure. The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is closely monitoring developments in ATM provision, including those that are free-to-use. The PSR regulates LINK, the scheme which runs the UK’s ATM network, and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over LINK’s commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs. LINK has put in place specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1 kilometre away from the next nearest free-to-use ATM. LINK has also enhanced its Financial Inclusion Programme by tripling the funding available for free-to-use ATMs in the most deprived areas of the UK.

UK Membership of EU

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the to the public purse in (a) gross and (b) net terms of the UK's extended membership of the EU to 31 October 2019; and what estimate he has made of the per diem cost of membership of the EU post 31 October 2019.

Elizabeth Truss: The settlement agreed with the EU represents a comprehensive settlement covering all of the mutual commitments between the EU and the UK. The OBR’s latest estimate is laid as part of the wider OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook publication. The most recent estimate, £37.8bn, was published in the March 2019 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This analysis assumes an exit date of 29 March 2019 The European Council has agreed an extension to Article 50 to the end of October. During the extension, the UK will continue to be a member of the European Union. While we remain in the EU we will uphold our commitments on the EU Budget, adjusted for the rebate. Similarly, the EU continues to have legal obligations to us as a member state, including in respect of receipts from the EU budget. We will provide an updated estimate of the value of the financial settlement once the UK has left the EU.  The UK makes two contributions per month to the EU Budget which will vary from month to month. These payments are made on the first working day and the first working day after the 19th of each month. As such, it would not be possible to calculate a daily cost of an extension to Article 50 to the end of October.

Transport: Capital Investment

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what options are available to finance strategic transport infrastructure schemes.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government directly finances strategic transport infrastructure through various funds. This includes Control Period 6 (which will invest almost £48bn in the railway network over the period 2019-2024) and the second Road Investment Strategy (which will invest £25.3bn in the strategic road network over the period 2020 - 2025).The Chancellor announced at Budget 2018 that PFI and PF2 would no longer be used for new government projects, and the Treasury will not be seeking a like-for-like replacement for these models. The Treasury remains open to private finance for government-funded projects, and is consulting on this as part of the Infrastructure Finance Review, as announced in the Spring Statement.

Pensions: Doctors

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he had had with the Secretary of State for Health on the flexibility of pensions available to NHS (a) doctors and (b) consultants.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is committed to public service pensions which are fair to workers and fair to other taxpayers. The Government is aware of specific concerns raised by NHS doctors who are impacted by annual allowance tax charges, and we are currently discussing the issue with the Department of Health and Social Care. All public sector pay and pensions policies are kept under constant review.

Pensions: Doctors

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he had had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on reviewing the annual allowance taper in relation to NHS doctor and consultant pensions.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is committed to public service pensions which are fair to workers and fair to other taxpayers. The Government is aware of specific concerns raised by NHS doctors who are impacted by annual allowance tax charges, and we are currently discussing the issue with the Department of Health and Social Care. All public sector pay and pensions policies are kept under constant review.

Child Rearing

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the merits of rewarding parents for looking after their own children in their formative years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is committed to supporting parents looking after children and does so in a number of ways throughout their formative years. For instance, every year the Government spends more than £11bn on Child Benefit to support those families raising children. There is also a comprehensive crediting system in place to support those who cannot work due to illness or if they are caring for someone, including parents looking after a child under 12. These help maintain an individual's National Insurance record and so protect their entitlement to the basic State Pension and certain other state benefits.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Culture: Finance

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to (a) protect and (b) increase funding for arts and culture outside London.

Michael Ellis: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 13 May 2019.The correct answer should have been:

We are committed to promoting the Arts and culture outside London, and continue to work closely with the Arts Council to ensure that the whole of the country has access to funding for arts and cultural programmes. Last year 70% of Arts Council's lotterytotal funding was awarded outside London. Between 2018 and 2022 an additional £170 million of National Portfolio Organisation funding will be invested outside London. In addition, the recent Cultural Development Fund has seen £20 million of funding shared between five towns and cities outside of the capital, while programmes such as Creative People and Places and the City of Culture programme continue to focus outside of the capital. DCMS has also recently announced an additional £4 million of funding for the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund. In 2019/20, 35 museums and galleries will benefit from this funding which aims to improve audience experience. Over 80% of regional museums outside London will receive money from this Fund.

Michael Ellis: We are committed to promoting the Arts and culture outside London, and continue to work closely with the Arts Council to ensure that the whole of the country has access to funding for arts and cultural programmes. Last year 70% of Arts Council's lotterytotal funding was awarded outside London. Between 2018 and 2022 an additional £170 million of National Portfolio Organisation funding will be invested outside London. In addition, the recent Cultural Development Fund has seen £20 million of funding shared between five towns and cities outside of the capital, while programmes such as Creative People and Places and the City of Culture programme continue to focus outside of the capital. DCMS has also recently announced an additional £4 million of funding for the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund. In 2019/20, 35 museums and galleries will benefit from this funding which aims to improve audience experience. Over 80% of regional museums outside London will receive money from this Fund.

PledgeMusic: Insolvency

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to protect musicians and consumers after the announcement that Pledge Music has been put into administration.

Margot James: The Government takes the protection of consumers very seriously. It also supports the UK music industry and fair remuneration for artists. In the event that a company is unable to meet its contractual obligation when they fall into administration, consumers who paid for goods using their credit card are protected under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) and should contact their card issuing company. In some circumstances, debit card payments can be refunded through the Chargeback scheme and consumers should seek further information from their bank.The Insolvency Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, acts as an impartial source of information for the public and HMG on insolvency and redundancy matters.

Mobile Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the findings of the report by Mobile UK on why there is little interoperability between vendors in 4G and 5G, what assessment he has made of whether Ofcom should promote the standarisation necessary for vendor interopability.

Margot James: The Government supports the global standardisation system and works with major standards bodies to understand and assist their work, as does Ofcom. The major elements for 4G and 5G are generated through well respected standards organisations with good industry and regulator involvement. Industry stakeholders use these bodies to agree relevant interoperability definitions between all major elements. My Department is leading a cross-Government review into the supply chain arrangements for the UK’s telecoms infrastructure. The Review is considering both the technology and economic aspects of the supply chain & the development and adoption of technology standards are relevant factors. The decisions of the Review will be announced in due course.